Spoke about what the role of the audience is, and that question has come up from multiple people recently (Hakani, Beth, and now Rothberg). A big breakthrough for me was realizing in my early shows (2019) I was essentially asking audience members to watching someone nodding out and somehow be entertained by that. The EEG experience is very internal, and even with the sound and visuals being output, the FEELING is still internal. So my recent sound bath “performance” (is it a performance? Is it a group “experience”? A journey?), the audience expectation was very different. They weren’t expected to watch a show, or be attentive, or be mindful (like in a group meditation). They were invited to lie down, be cozy, be *nurtured*, fall asleep, chill, space out. It was a very permissive space with low pressure, but also mixed with a larger vulnerability. To close their eyes in a group of strangers (sometimes people at raves do this too with the safety of the repetitive beat) and drift into their subconscious. For someone with PTSD, that is too much, to let their guard down and let go. And I had a vulnerability too, and it’s more shared. I’m allowing my heart and mind to be amplified, showing my fear or nervousness or fatigue or boredom. This format so far has garnered the most attention, a bigger crowd, more people expressing interest, more people wanting another show or to host a location – I think – because it is more of a shared experience. Next steps could be exploring sensors on audience members (which ones? All of them? Some?) and co-authoring the event (even if the sounds are still meditated through my musical choices).
https://www.notion.so/jasonjsnell/2023-03-06-1fdd2b54c60e4ac5b189f8f170ec70e6?pvs=4